What, Bullatius, do you think of Chios, and of celebrated Lesbos?  What of neat Samos?  What of Sardis, the royal residence of Croesus?  What of Smyrna, and Colophon?  Are they greater or less than their fame?  Are they all contemptible in comparison of the Campus Martius and the river Tiber?  Does one of Attalus’ cities enter into your wish?  Or do you admire Lebedus, through a surfeit of the sea and of traveling?  You know what Lebedus is; it is a more unfrequented town than Gabii and Fidenae; yet there would I be willing to live; and, forgetful of my friends and forgotten by them, view from land Neptune raging at a distance.  But neither he who comes to Rome from Capua, bespattered with rain and mire, would wish to live in an inn; nor does he, who has contracted a cold, cry up stoves and bagnios as completely furnishing a happy life:  nor, if the violent south wind has tossed you in the deep, will you therefore sell your ship on the other side of the Aegean Sea.  On a man sound in mind Rhodes and beautiful Mitylene have such an effect, as a thick cloak at the summer solstice, thin drawers in snowy weather, [bathing in] the Tiber in winter, a fire in the month of August.  While it is permitted, and fortune preserves a benign aspect, let absent Samos, and Chios, and Rhodes, be commended by you here at Rome.  Whatever prosperous; hour Providence bestows upon you, receive it with a thankful hand:  and defer not [the enjoyment of] the comforts of life, till a year be at an end; that in whatever place you are, you may say you have lived with satisfaction.  For if reason and discretion, not a place that commands a prospect of the wide-extended sea, remove our cares; they change their climate, not their disposition, who run beyond the sea:  a busy idleness harrasses us:  by ships and by chariots we seek to live happily.  What you seek is here [at home], is at Ulubrae, if a just temper of mind is not wanting to you.

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EPISTLE XII.

TO ICCIUS.

Leader the appearance of praising the man’s parsimony, he archly ridicules it; introduces Grosphus to him, and concludes with a few articles of news concerning the Roman affairs.

O Iccius, if you rightly enjoy the Sicilian products, which you collect for Agrippa, it is not possible that greater affluence can be given you by Jove.  Away with complaints! for that man is by no means poor, who has the use or everything, he wants.  If it is well with your belly, your back, and your feet, regal wealth can add nothing greater.  If perchance abstemious amid profusion you live upon salad and shell-fish, you will continue to live in such a manner, even if presently fortune shall flow upon you in a river of gold; either because money can not change the natural disposition, or because it is your opinion that all things are inferior to virtue alone.  Can we wonder that cattle feed upon the meadows and corn-fields